Jerilyn Gleaves, right, a Supplier Diversity Supervisor at PG&E Company in San Francisco, talks to those interesting in jobs at the PG&E booth at Black Expo 2003's Job Showcase and Procurement Fair at the Oakland Convention Center. 7/10/03 in Oakland.
DARRYL BUSH / The Chronicle less

Jerilyn Gleaves, right, a Supplier Diversity Supervisor at PG&E Company in San Francisco, talks to those interesting in jobs at the PG&E booth at Black Expo 2003's Job Showcase and Procurement Fair at the ... more

Aisha Whitmore of San Leandro, shakes hands with a Bank of America recruiter, after inquiring about job opportunities at the Job Showcase and Procurement Fair kicking off at the Black Expo 2003 at Oakland Convention Center. 7/10/03 in Oakland.
DARRYL BUSH / The Chronicle less

Aisha Whitmore of San Leandro, shakes hands with a Bank of America recruiter, after inquiring about job opportunities at the Job Showcase and Procurement Fair kicking off at the Black Expo 2003 at Oakland ... more

Photo: DARRYL BUSH

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Gaining clout / Businesses tap into blacks' spending power

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From big corporations to small enterprises, the message was the same: Businesses must reflect their communities.

It was a message heard again and again on Thursday, when Black Expo 2003 kicked off at the Oakland Convention Center.

The 13th annual event is expected to draw about 20,000 people this weekend, with its job fair, home buyers fair, health education fair and daylong workshop on college enrollment.

Its biggest attraction will be the 185 vendors -- most of them African American business owners -- selling their services and wares. They will set up booths alongside large corporations, which are increasingly recognizing a market that had once been neglected.

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Event coordinator Diane Howell said the event is a good way for businesses to showcase their attitudes toward African Americans and for African Americans to see who is willing to do business with them.

"That sounds trite, but in reality, if you're young or old, if you're African American, businesses are not always interested in doing business with you," Howell said.

A look at the buying power of African Americans might change some minds. According to a 2002 multicultural economic study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, African American consumers account for almost 9 cents out of every dollar spent in the United States.

The buying power of African Americans in the United States was an estimated $588.7 billion in 2000, a jump from $316.5 billion in 1990, according to the Selig Center. It is expected to reach an estimated $852.8 billion in 2007.

In California, the second-largest African American consumer market after New York, the buying power of African Americans reached $48.2 billion in 2000 and $52.3 billion last year, compared with $29.9 billion in 1990. The 2002 figure amounts to 5.3 percent of the state's total buying power.

Jeffrey Humphrey, director of the Selig Center and author of the study, said that African American buying power can be the fuel for entrepreneurial activity within the black community. "It represents the flow of income that small businesses need to start their business," he said.

That flow of income helps explain a surge in African American businesses. According to a U.S. Census survey in 1997, the number of businesses owned by African Americans increased at a rate almost four times faster than the number of all U.S. firms.

Despite the growth, African American business owners find it difficult to get capital.

"The reality is that traditional sources of funding are not as readily available to people of color as they are to other folks," Howell said. "When it comes time to try to find a loan, very often African American-owned or minority-owned businesses don't have a lot of people willing to help to make it happen."

Jennifer Walker-Kemp ran into that problem when she started her accounting and business consulting office in 1980 in Oakland. "There weren't very many opportunities to sell your service to a lender to get start-up funding," she said.

Instead, Walker-Kemp borrowed $20,000 from her family and helped sustain her business by bartering her services -- accounting work -- in exchange for printing services or legal advice.

Eventually, she got her business off the ground and now has enough money to help her husband open a truck-driving school.

"It's a little easier now, just a little easier," Walker-Kemp said. "The relationship that African Americans have with financial institutions is still minimal."

Bill Washington, owner of New Orleans Bill Co., which makes and sells New Orleans-style food, said a lack of capital is what causes some small businesses to fail even when they have a viable product.

"You don't have access, so you start on a low budget," he said. "You may end up doing a deal with the devil just to survive or your credit goes bad."

Fortunately, Washington was able to get his business going using his experience as an accountant. It allowed him to supplement his income by providing services on the side, sometimes doing tax work for clients from midnight to 5 a.m.

Those days are long over, and Washington's products are stocked on the shelves of Albertsons and Safeway stores.

Still, he laments how far African Americans must still go in order to start a successful business. "It's the year 2003, and a lot of people in business still don't feel comfortable dealing with people of color," he said.

GROWING INFLUENCE

-- African Americans in the United States had an estimated buying power of $588.7 billion in 2000, up from $316.5 billion in 1990.

-- African Americans in California had an estimated buying power of $48.2 billion in 2000, up from $29.9 billion in 1990.

-- California has the nation's second-largest number of African American- owned businesses, behind New York.